We can stop bullying together

Update (sorta): 10/2/12October is National Bullying Month and thanks to Facebook, someone had posted this video and I watched it. This is truly inspiring.

It was on the website Upworthy. The original video is by news anchor Jennifer Livingston on WKBT.The Upworthy site then, in turn, linked to the Fat Nutritionist's website, which is pretty fascinating if you ask me. Which you didn't, but oh well. :)

As someone who is "fat" and was teased quite a bit in school, I totally get it. As someone who doesn't have emotionally thick skin, I can totally see how being sent a message like that can have very different consequences.

PLEASE KNOW THAT Above all else, if you are bullied, or know someone who is, please know that you are not alone. There is absolutely NO reason to take your own life.

If you are tortured at school every day, or at home, PLEASE talk to someone. Talk to your parents, to a teacher, or your local teen librarian.

We are here for you. You are loved. Please remember that. You can read more about my personal experiences with bullying, and my opinions here, as if it wasn't obvious to everyone. :)

I won't post the video here, since its nasty, vulgar and vile, but there's a video out there of some Greece Athena Middle School students taunting and bullying a bus monitor until she starts crying. And its not just a quick thing either. The video goes on for ten minutes, and who knows how long it goes on before or afterwards. Its HORRIBLE. And no one sticks up for this poor woman, or tells the guys to stop.

Greece, N.Y. - Greece Police are deciding if a group of Greece Athena Middle school students will be charged after cell phone video shows a group of kids on a school bus bullying and threatening a school bus monitor.

You can see some students on camera and hear others off camera taunting the woman about her weight.

The students also talk about threatening to go over to the bus monitor's house and steal from her.

Greece Central School District has asked YouTube to take down the video.

Spokeswoman Laurel Heiden said their bullying response and prevention team was activated and all students involved will face disciplinary action.

Greece Police are questioning four middle school students and will decide if charges will be filed in juvenile court.

It's unclear when this incident happened.

The Greece School District said the bus monitor is Karen Klein, who has worked there for 20 years and became a bus monitor about three years ago.

13WHAM's Patrice Walsh spoke with Karen Wednesday afternoon. Klein said the comment that hurt the most was when the kids said "you're so ugly your kid should kill themselves." Her son took his life 10 years ago.

Absolutely reprehensible. It makes you think though. How often does this happen? What can we do about this to make it stop? This could be your mom, your grandma, your best friend. How would you feel then? What if what you think might be harmless teasing is actually making it hard for that person to get up in the morning? Making them not want to go to school every day? Making them want to end their life?

What if you saw this happening? Would you stand up for them? If you were afraid to do it yourself, would you find someone who could?

This is a CBS news article about a ten year old who created an anti-bullying video and he's also encouraging people to join in the Day of Silence on Dec. 12, 2012, an annual event where students take a vow of silence to bring attention to the silencing aspect anti-LGBT bullying and harassment inflicts on those affected by it.

This is a TODAYMoms article about high school freshman Jessica Barba, who tried to take a stand against bullying, but in a way that her school seemed was too controversial. She was suspended, but that was overturned and

Jessica's father Michael Barba told NBC News that all went well. "I am the proudest father in the world."

... Barba says her video "accomplished more than I could have imagined."

"Bullying is 100 percent preventable," she says, adding that she thinks she deserves an "A" for the project.

What would you do?

As hard as it is to believe, even TV stars suffer from bullying...

Over SIX MILLION American school children have been bullied in the past six months. Whether you cheer on the bully, or silently watch, you are supporting the bully. The effects upon the victim can be devastating, and the effects can last a lifetime. Do something besides watching. Try to diffuse the situation. Tell a teacher, or a principal. If you can, stand up to the bully and let them know that it's not okay. Support the victim. Let them know you care and you don't think what happened to them was fair or right.

Here's a video of Disney star Demi Lovato at the Pacer Center, a Minneapolis based non-profit organization that tries to teach how to prevent bullying.

Here's a website that was created by James Howe (of Bunnicula fame) called No Name-Calling Week, which is January 23-27.

No Name-Calling Week was inspired by a young adult novel entitled "The Misfits" by popular author, James Howe. The book tells the story of four best friends trying to survive the seventh grade in the face of all too frequent taunts based on their weight, height, intelligence, and sexual orientation/gender expression. Motivated by the inequities they see around them, the "Gang of Five" (as they are known) creates a new political party during student council elections and run on a platform aimed at wiping out name-calling of all kinds. The No-Name Party in the end, wins the support of the school's principal for their cause and their idea for a "No Name-Calling Day" at school.